Patch's New Site for Small Businesses Offers Tips, Info and More

The newly launched website provides practical advice and innovative ideas for those small business owners.

Patch has launched a new site — smallbusiness.patch.com — to educate and empower small businesses with the digital tools, social media strategies and marketing know-how needed to ensure long-term growth. Readers will have access to exclusive interviews with well-known founders and CEOs, and small business industry experts who share their experiences, advice and tips for success. One of the latest articles features an exclusive interview with successful real estate entrepreneur, Barbara Corcoran, founder of The Corcoran Group. In this Q&A, Corcoran discusses the how to take advantage of the size of a small businesses, and why making big “mistakes” made all the difference in her success. Click here to read about the tactics Corcoran used to…

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Small Business Owners Invest in Communities

The owners of small businesses throughout the Metro Milwaukee area say it works for them to be part of the fabric of their communities.

Small businesses work for a strong community. The days of Henry Ford coming into a community to build a plant and hire 25,000 workers are gone. But the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well on a much smaller scale. From neighborhood diners and booksellers with a handful of employees to niche operations with dozens of employees, small business owners have found ways to be profitable while strengthening the community in which they operate. Paul Schueller, CEO and part owner of Franklin Energy Services in Port Washington, Wis. was an engineer for Wisconsin Natural Gas Company.  Schueller saw an opportunity and struck out on his own.  “It’s more cost effective for energy companies to find ways to improve energy efficiencies than to build …

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Strong Small Businesses Make Communities Better

Local business improvement district leaders say a thriving small business climate makes the whole community stronger, but it takes support from residents, the government and business owners to make things work.

Thriving businesses are one-third of a triumvirate of a vibrant community. “You need good schools, a quality housing stock and a solid commercial area,” said Tim Ryan, president of Shorewood’s Business Improvement District.  Ryan is invested in all three. He and his family live in Shorewood, his daughter goes to school in Shorewood and he is the president and owner of Harleys: The Store for Men on Oakland Avenue in Shorewood. Small businesses line the commercial corridor that runs east and west along Capital Drive and north and south along Oakland Avenue, Ryan said. “Unlike many small communities, our business district is spread out on two thoroughfares.” Small businesses, like Harleys, are invested in a community the way national chains …

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David Tatarowicz

5:09 pm on Tuesday, November 13, 2012

@Ab Fab You make some very good points and more importantly ask some very good questions. I noted that Ryan said " thriving small businesses reduce the tax burden for homeowners and buoys home values." which is just not true. Property tax rates are the same for commercial property as it is for residential property. In Wisconsin, unlike some other states, the local communities get no share of the …   more ›

Free Alternative Medicine Demos Offered Sunday at Greensquare Center

With more than 30 practitioners offering a wide array of natural treatments and therapies, Greensquare Center for the Healing Arts is opening its doors to the community Sunday for a free workshop with demonstrations.

I couldn't believe it. As a guy who hates needles, I had somehow found myself in a dim room, lying on my back preparing to have several small pins stuck into my skin. In the name of curiosity and local journalism, I volunteered to undergo a brief acupuncture session with Alana Pollack Hammer at Greensquare Center for the Healing Arts in nearby Glendale. Hammer normally treats patients experiencing musculoskeletal pains, stress and anxiety or digestive disorders, but I only had a simple sore throat. After quickly calculating which meridian points in my arms and legs led to my throat, Hammer stuck three needles in me, and to my surprise, it didn't hurt. Afterward, my heartbeat slowed and I experienced a warm, calm feeling. Over the next …

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Editor's Notebook

SCORE Helps Business Owners

No, there's not a catch. SCORE's experienced mentors will help you take your business to the next level.

When it comes down to it, behind just about every small business is an entrepreneur hoping to turn their passion into a paycheck. But, as many wise business advisers have noted: Hope is not a strategy. Business owners need support to turn dreams into reality. That's why Patch is pleased to announce a new partnership with SCORE, a nonprofit organization with 12,000 business experts nationwide who provide free mentoring to small business owners. The partnership makes sense because we believe that when local commerce grows, the whole community gets stronger. Patch already provides free listings for local businesses and other tools to help build local brands. Whether you're a 10-year-old jewelry designer or a 79-year-old who carves wood knives…

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Governor Talks Wisconsin Jobs, Mining and Education at Rotary Appearance

Gov. Scott Walker said, among other things, that he supported extending unemployment benefits through a worker's unpaid training period.

Gov. Scott Walker addressed job growth, responsible mining and the pressing need for skilled labor on Tuesday while speaking to a full house of almost 300 people at the Milwaukee War Memorial Center. The Milwaukee Rotary Club sponsored the appearance, during which Walker fielded questions from an audience without a protestor in sight. The governor thinks so. Walker said he's noticed a trend among small manufacturers — while there are jobs galore available and employers are desperately in search of employees, there are just not enough people to fill these jobs with the right credentials. "One of the most frustrating things for me, is employers telling me that they have jobs, but they don't have enough skilled workers to fill those jobs, …

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Steve

12:04 am on Saturday, March 10, 2012

It's not a soil sample but an exploration drilling core sample. Soil or overburden is removed before mining to get down to the "rock". Only one core? Before mining a lot of core samples are taken to find the ore body's width and depth. I hope they found some pyrite "The oxidation of pyrite (iron sulfide) by molecular oxygen produces iron(II), or Fe2+:" would be a crappy mine without iron   more ›

Getting Government Out of the Way so Small Businesses Can Succeed

In this week's radio address, Governor Scott Walker talks about how regulations for small businesses need to be smarter to help entrepreneurs succeed.

The state has partnered with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association to produce and distribute brief radio address once a week.  Audio files and a written transcript of this radio address can be accessed on http://www.wi-broadcasters.org and http://walker.wi.gov/Weekly-Radio-Addresses.  To download an mp3 file you can visit, right click the radio address link and click “save link as.” Hi. I'm Scott Walker. Touring the state and talking to small business owners, one thing has become crystal clear to me: government regulations need to be science based, predictable and practical.  All too often I hear about how government is standing in the way of those who want to grow jobs in our state. This is why I just signed Executive Order 61, which …

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Adam Wienieski

10:25 pm on Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Bren said "The important thing to remember about government is the potential for politicization." Yes, I think that's a point we can all agree on. The founding fathers were so opposed to the concept of omnipotent government they listed a limited number of powers for Congress and said everything else belonged to the people or the states. It was the first time in history the power of government had…   more ›

PIXessories Immortalizes Memories in Jewelry

Whitefish Bay jeweler works with Tosa photographer to create portraits in sterling silver settings.

If you are looking to get a head start on Valentine's Day shopping, consider turning a photo with your loved one into a jewelery gift with the help of two local artists. Whitefish Bay jeweler Sarah Mann and Wauwatosa photographer Stephanie Bartz have combined their talents to form PIXessories, which creates personal and customized portraits set in handmade sterling silver settings. The concept is simple enough. Set up a photo session with Bartz at the location of your choice (she has no studio and works only on location) for yourself or your loved one, who might well be your pet. Then choose your favorite shot from Bartz's proofs and, finally, select your ring or necklace setting for Mann to immortalize in solid silver. "I began doing this…

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Photo Gallery: Whitefish Bay Holiday Stroll

Downtown merchants kick off holiday season with festive event for the entire family.

They may have spent they daytime hours shopping at the malls and the big box stores, but hundreds of people also spent Friday evening on downtown Whitefish Bay for the Business Improvement District's annual Holiday Stroll. The event featured a parade, a tree-lighting ceremony with Santa, pony and train rides, and performers from the Milwaukee Ballet in shop windows. And for those who really wanted to shop Friday night, local businesses were offering promotions and plenty free samples. Patch would like to thank Whitefish Bay photographer Linda Gumieny of Boutique Photographer for these great shots. You can find more of Gumieny's Holiday Stroll photos on her Facebook page.

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North Shore Stores See Brisk Business on Black Friday

Looking for good deals without the big crowds, many shoppers hit their local business districts.

While hundreds of North Shore shoppers descended on Bayshore Town Center Friday, just a few blocks away sisters Joan Colman and Breta Landy chatted as they walked down Silver Spring Drive, peeking in store windows of small merchants and reading window signs promising special deals for Black Friday. "Instead of fighting the crowds at Bayshore, we decided to come here and have a leisurely walk," said Colman, a Whitefish Bay resident. "We're just meandering around and looking in different stores." The business districts of the North Shore were not overrun Friday, but merchants said they had many customers who came in looking for discounts without having to battle the crowds. At family-owned Thiet Jewelers on Silver Spring Drive in Whitefish …

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